Vancouver has felt eerily post-apocalyptic these past few days, blanketed in smoke from nearby wildfires. We are told to “stay indoors and avoid strenuous exercise”. The parks, normally teeming, are empty, as people flock to air-conditioned malls, to avoid the air that smells like burning. Some wildfires are necessary to the ecosystem, but no one can deny that weather is getting more extreme.

The timing was apt, as the Sun was directly opposite to Pluto, Lord of the underworld on July 6th, shining a light into the depths, asking us to look at what is normally unconscious, hidden, taboo, repressed. Asking us to face our predicament: the climate really is changing, it’s not just theory anymore (and many other hard truths, personal and collective).

On July 12, the Sun squares Uranus, so this week, the waning, but still relevant Pluto-Uranus square is triggered (the square aspect will be felt from 2009-2016). Uranus, the revolutionary intensifies Pluto’s ability to transform. This is the first quarter in a cycle that began with Pluto conjunct Uranus in the mid-sixties, meaning many events in these past few years (revolutions, protests, movements, austerity, recession) follow directly from seeds that were planted in the sixties.

Pluto is in Capricorn, the sign of structures, government, the economy, and corporations from 2008-2023. Pluto transforms whatever it touches; with our cooperation, the transformation can be smooth, but when we resist, powerful Pluto forces the change he deems necessary. Uranus is in Aries, the sign of leadership and individuality, urging us all to find freedom from conformity, take a stand for what we believe, and bring our individual gifts, skills, and passions to bear on the collective transformation. Pluto and Uranus aren’t content with gradual change. They don’t abide concessions and adjustments; they demand complete and utter transformation, whether we cooperate or not.

Adjusting our consumer habits or tweaking policy here and there won’t cut it. Everything needs to change from the ground up. Our political and economic structures, our building materials and strategies, our modes of transportation, the kind of energy we use and how we use them, our social policies.... Maybe most importantly, our values, our philosophies, our ways of thinking, being, and living.

The Sun, Mars, and soon Mercury, in Cancer, sign of the mother and nurturing, can help us foster an experiential (rather than theoretical) connection to Earth, whether through walking on the grass in bare feet, tending a garden, or consciously connecting to Earth energy. Maybe these simple acts seem frivolous, but as millions of us alter our consciousness, the collective changes. (Which isn’t to say we shouldn’t also act politically).

The Sun triggering Uranus-Pluto this week triggers change (and awareness of our need for it) on a personal as well as a collective level. Think back to mid-March, when the final Uranus-Pluto square was exact, and there was a total solar eclipse. What was happening for you then? What has changed since then? What is changing on a collective level, and what is your role in it? As we collectively envision and create the future, whether consciously or unconsciously, what is your part in the story?